


The Devil's Angel

by kurtwagnerok



Category: X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Canon Divergence, M/M, Male Friendship, PTSD, Platonic Relationship, Romantic Tension, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-15
Updated: 2018-04-15
Packaged: 2019-02-06 18:34:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12823578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kurtwagnerok/pseuds/kurtwagnerok
Summary: Brought together to be a destructive tag team, Warren and Kurt formed a bond no one could understand. After being separated they do everything they can to find each other, if it's possible...





	1. An Angel's Charge

I don't even know how it all happened, I was leaving the party drunk to all hell and then I felt something knock me over the head. Someone from behind me had grabbed my shoulders and zip tied my wings to prevent me from flying away. Leaving me on the ground, I was but a wingless bird at the moment. Weak, vulnerable, and useless. My head held low, I had no will and no means to live. I had tried fighting by kicking my legs out and then they beat the fight right out of me. I soon felt myself falling into unconciousness.

I opened my eyes and wasn't surprised to see anything other than darkness. My mind was still foggy from the alcohol and whatever had bludgeoned me. This must have been my view for who knows how long. I would much rather be looking at my kidnapper's faces than the pitch black abyss I was slowly growing accustomed to. The fear of the unknown greatly outweighed my fear of pain. The only thing I knew now was that I was moving, I gathered this from the swaying I felt every few seconds.

I didn't know where I was going or why they took me. I tried to recall the events that led to me being in this dark box.

* * *

_I had just finished wondering through the streets of Prague and now was at my next destination, I'm pretty sure I was in Germany now. I had been traveling through Europe after my father's advisors sent me on a trip before allowing me to take over the company. I had seen this as a chance to get away from my family, my family's name, and all that came attatched with it._

_So far while on my romantic get away I have done zero soul searching, but plenty of partying. Thanks to the lowered drinking age in European cities, I got to spend most of my hours drunk. The other hours were spent passed out from being drunk or in the arms of foreign women I will probably never ever meet again. It wasn't quite the fortuned destiny for a Worthington but it was the one I had no problem succumbing to._

_Speaking of foreign women I will never meet again, standing a few feet ahead of me was a dark haired beauty clad in a purple jumpsuit. A weird get-up for this time of day but I wasn't one to judge anyone's appearance. Before I could walk over and introduce myself, she glanced over at me and her eyes widened._

_Smirking, she walked over to me and held out a flyer. I looked down at it and glanced back up with a frown, I couldn't understand anything it said. It was all in German I think._

_"Sorry babe, but I speak English," I said and pointed at the paper to be more clear._

_"An American mutant, huh?" she said, and I was surprised to hear that she was very American too, but I was more peeved by the mutant comment._

_"Yeah I'm a mutant, what of it?" I said, my tone was now less than flirty and moreso annoyed. I was used to the stares and whispered insults but for christ's sake I was walking around with a pair of fluffy white wings sprouting out of back, however, no one had come up to me before until now._

_"Well..." She threw a hand over my shoulder, just brushing across the curve of my wing, "for one, you're only getting this flyer because it's mutants only. Come to the big warehouse with all the lights, you'll see it when you get there."_

_I watched her turn away, almost mesmerized, before I had the mind to call her back. She turned around and looked at me in question. I waved the flyer in aggravation, "What if I can't find this warehouse?"_

_"Then ask for directions," she shrugged._

_"Will there be booze?" I inquired. The answer will determine whether the party is worthwile to me or not._

_She smirked, "Tons."_

* * *

Of course it was that bitch. I should've known something was off when she said the party was mutants only. As soon as I drunk to my heart's content and saw she was nowhere to be found among the many mutants that had attended I had left that warehouse and was hit over the head. I hadn't lost conciousness right away so I could hear everything they had been saying to me, but I couldn't understand them. When my captors were speaking to me, it wasn't English, it sounded a lot like German but either way I couldn't understand them. I did understand one word and as soon as I heard it it put me on edge immediately. _**Mutant**_. They said it like disgusted them to even utter the word.

I get it somewhat. I deserved this for being born the way I was, but I couldn't control it. If I had the choice...

My head fell back as I groaned, and it knocked against the wall of the box. If I had the choice I would get rid of my wings just like my father wanted.

I abruptly surged forward, my forehead hitting the wall in front of me. I cursed, rubbing my face in pain. This must mean we had stopped moving. I focused on the sounds beyond the box and heard the shuffeling of feet. With a loud crack the front of the box was pulled off and as my eyes adjusted to the new view I was grabbed by the two guys in front of me.

Tripping over my feet, they pulled me to my feet and maintained a strong grip on my shoulders. They were speaking to me, uncaring of whether not I could understand them or not and I twisted a bit. My wings were fluttering but unmoving from the restrained position they were in. I shot my elbow back, hitting soft flesh and the man gripping my right arm grunted and the one on my left kicked the back of my knee. Stumbling to a kneel, I was kicked in my side. Once, twice, and third time until the pain had radiated to my chest and they were satisfied that I wasn't going to attack them anymore.

They picked me up by my arms again and dragged me down the hallway. It was dark, cold, and wet. I could only assume wherever I was going wasn't anywhere good. Their grip was tighter on my arms since I had pissed them off.

I **_really_** was weak and vulnerable. Without my wings free I could do nothing but stand and fight, and already weakened from the earlier ambush and against two men, I couldn't even do that. I didn't want to lose hope but sadly it was already gone. I had no choice but to accept the fate that would be given to me.

They stopped in front a door and when the slot on the door was opened, a face peered down at him, the door opened fully and I tried to look around but a grip on the back of my neck kept my gaze forward. They walked past a large cage which was the only thing I could see and towards another door. I didn't miss the broken beer bottles and popcorn littered across the ground.

They reach this door and when it was opened I heard the sounds of other humans, but soon fear creeped up my spine for the fact that they sounded like they were angry or in pain. Since I was facing forward I was forced to look at the cages lined up in rows, all containing mutants, the ones that are physically mutated like me. There was a man with orange fur beating his cage, another with a tail and no ears yelling in an unrecognized language, a woman the color of lava hissed at them as they walked by and dragged me to a cage at the end of the room.

Inside the cage, sitting in the corner, was a person balled up so tight I almost didn't notice them. I couldn't be going in there, not with that thing. There was an endless possibilities of what it could do to me. I ground the balls of my feet in the floor coming to a halt. They pulled at my arms but I refused to move. I wasn't going to let them throw me into a cage with some exotic mutant.

They said something to me before both men kicked at my legs and I dropped to my knees. Pulling me up, the one on the right opened the cage with a set of keys, and quickly they threw me inside. I immediately got up and my wings felt heavier, bound against my back tightly but I managed to get to the bars of the cage.

"Don't leave me in here you bastards!" I yelled. German or not they had to gather that I was pissed, "Fucking let me out!"

The man I elbowed, leaned in close to the cage and with a enthusiastic smirk he said in poor English, "Have fun with new partner."

They left laughing and I was stuck. I was caged up like an animal with an unknown mutant and my wings bound. I put my fists up, not really knowing what else to do.

The person in the corner hadn't moved, and I wondered for a second if they noticed I was even in here with them but then I saw something move on the floor of the cage. It was dark and skinny, it flicked out before wrapping around the body it belonged to. It was a tentacle or a tail or some freaky appendage.

"Sprechen sie Deustch?" a small soft voice startled me. I almost didn't hear it over the sounds the other caged mutants were making.

"What?"

The mutant shifted, coming undone from the balled up position. Not enough to see what they looked like but enough for them to see me. They didn't say anything  else, but they were going to answer my question.

"What did you say to me?" I asked, and I couldn't keep the accusatory tone out of voice. That was just how I was, always brooding and ever so angry which was being amplified by the situation. They flinched at my harsh tone, but I didn't care. They might not have minded being locked up like a wild animal but he did.

"Deustch...?" They said lowly.

I growled and felt my feathers ruffle, literally, they were about to get some of that prime Worthington attitude, "You calling me a douche? What the hell's your problem you freak?"

Turning around a bit more, yellow eyes blinked at me and I gulped, hoping I didn't just anger this beast or whatever it was. Curse me and my big mouth. I raised my hands up placatingly, but still in a good position to fight if it did come to that, "Look, I'm just trying to get out of here, I don't want a fight so don't spit your acid at me or whatever you do." I said.

The yellow eyes blinked again, and then they turned towards me fully and I blinked when I saw how they looked. It was a boy and if he didn't have all his other noticeable features he would look very unassuming. Skinny as all hell, and the hunched over form made him look even smaller. However, taking in the blue skin that seemed to move with the shadows in the cage, the markings on his face, the yellow eyes, the spaded tail that flicked out behind him, and the weird ass three fingered hands and two fingered feet I deduced that this was the weirdest and scariest mutant I have ever seen. Though...

There was nothing aggressive about him whatsoever, he just blinked, and his blue hair fell over his left eye. Even then, I still kept me hands up. The boy tilted his head like a curious puppy and said with a heavy accent, "Acid?"

I dropped my hands just a bit, "You're telling me you just got the looking weird part of being a mutant? That's gotta suck."

Like something clicked in his head, he nodded slowly, "Yes I am mutant."

"Gee, I would never know," I said sarcastically and seeing as how the boy hadn't lunged at me or growled, I lowered my hands from their defensive position.

"I ask if you speak Deustch—" he cleared his throat and scratched at his temple confused for a second, "J-jurmen?"

I was still confused and then face palmed as I realized how ignorant I sounded. The boy wasn't calling me a douche, he was asking if I spoke German. So that must mean the guards were speaking German to me earlier.

"German?" I asked for confirmation and the boy lit up like a Christmas tree, and when he smiled it revealed his sharp canines but it didn't do much to dampen the sheer joy that was on his face. The boy was so happy just from being understood.

I shook my head, "I don't speak it, just English."

He nodded in understanding and wrapped his tail around himself, and that was when I realized the boy had been in defense mode the whole time. His tail was pointed up behind him and he wasn't hunched but more so crouched like he was ready to leap. However, now he was relaxing. He must have deemed me harmless. "I do not know much English but I am learning," he said leaning onto the bars behind him.

I finally felt myself relaxing. The boy didn't see me as a threat so that meant he wasn't going to attack me. I tried to sit back and winced a little as my wings got caught under me. I couldn't adjust because of how they were tied.

The boy noticed the wince and his eyes drifted from my face to my wings.

"Could you..." I found myself asking and then I shook my head, why would I ask him for help? He perked up though recognizing the words as a question. I tried reaching back over the curve of my wing and getting to the zip tie but it was no use. I wasn't going to ask him, I didn't want some unknown mutant anywhere near my wings. "You know how to get out of here?" I asked instead.

"Get out?" He repeated himself and then he looked like he was thinking about before shaking his head solemnly, "I have been here for eine weile uh good time and I have work hard to get out but anything has worked."

The broken English wasn't too bad that I couldn't gather information, "How long have you been here? Days, weeks, months, ...years?"

The boy immediately shook his head, "Nein, not years! Weeks, I think..."

"They haven't let you out since you've been here?" I asked, he didn't look dirty or unkempt and it didn't stink or anything so they must have been letting him out once and a while. He gained a sheepish look on his face at that question.

"Yes they have..." he looked down and his tail curled tighter around him, like he was hugging himself. I felt kinda bad but I needed to know everything if I was going to escape and right now he was my only hope.

"Tell me now, when do they let you out?" There goes that harsh tone of mine and I watched as he huddled closer to the other side of the cage. I shrugged off the feeling of guilt, there was no time to feel like this, I couldn't afford to be anymore weak than I was already.

"I get out for the fights..."

"The fights? What are you talking about?" I questioned, something about the way he said it made me stand on edge. He turned away curling in on himself once more, he wasn't going to just shut down on me, I cleared my throat and attempted to sound comforting, "you can tell me...about the fights if you want."

For a second it was silent and I was worried that I wasn't going to get through to him and then he turned around again, "They make us fight each other, we do not want to, to live we have to."

"A mutant fighting ring?" I said more to myself than him. Remembering something for earlier when I was put in the cage, the man had said to enjoy my new partner. That must mean they want us to work together as a tag team on these fights. I groaned cursing my luck, and there was no way out of this unless I managed to break free while being taken to these fights. I noticed what the boy had said, "Who's they?" I asked a bit harsher than I intended and I repeated the question softer than before.

The boy looked like he gotten caught with his hand in the cookie jar, like he had done something wrong, "I do not know, I am sorry, when I was taken I...I do not know names."

"No names huh?" I said for confirmation and he shook his head. I don't know what I would do with any names anyway, not if I couldn't get out in the first place. Someone had to be looking for me after a few days. Warren Worthington III has went missing, who is going to inherent the family fortune that the young teen had no reason to access? They didn't care about me, just my money. That was all I was to them, my inheritance. I could never be my father or my grandfather. Just the fuck up mutated son.

"You have wings." The boy stated and I looked at him unimpressed.

"Good to know you're not blind," I said sarcastically and you know what he does? He laughs like I just told him the funniest thing ever.

"I would not be blind if I see your wings," he said like I was the nutty one here and I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, I have wings, what of it?" That seemed to be the topic of interest so far wherever I go. It'd be nice to meet someone and they notice my great hair or dashing good looks.

"They are uh tied," he says.

How does he know that? He shouldn't be able to see the restraints right? I stare at him looking for some sign of x-ray vision, and he tilts his head because I was definitely staring too hard.

"Something on my face?" He asked and begin rubbing at his face.

This kid was so...weird. He just acted like there was nothing wrong with me and him being in this cage right now it was just odd.

"How do you know they were tied and...why are you so cool with all of this? Why aren't you scared of me?" I asked bombarding him with questions.

He looked at me and I felt pleased to see him finally look a bit overwhelmed. It was just so unusual for someone to be so casual in this situation, it was unsettling, but what was worse was that I wasn't as uncomfortable as I should be. I didn't feel scared or worried or angry, at least not towards him. There was something about this kid that put me at ease for the time being.

"You would not be here if your wings are free," he said like it made the most sense and it did, then, "I am cool is that I can kill you first."

Now that did get me worried. I knew nothing about his mutation beyond what I could see and then he says something like that.

"I..."

He smiles at me before I can figure out a response to that, "You would have attack me already if you want to, ja?"

I guess he did have a point. If I really wanted to kick his ass just for the hell of it I would've done so already. He smiled wider when he saw I was thinking about it.

"I can uh get it for you," he said and then as an afterthought when he realized that he wasn't making much sense, "your wings I mean."

He was offering to get the restraints off. He was nice, way too nice. I would have never offered to help so mysterious mutant my first time meeting them, but who I was I to turn him down. Was I just going to sit here and speculate on if and when someone would come back and if they would release my wings. I sighed in defeat and said, "Sure but don't try to choke me or anything."

He laughed and I turned around, hunching over a little bit and I heard a noise that sounded like a smoke bomb or air leaking from a balloon. I turned around with urgency and found my self face to face with the kid. His nose was just about touching mine and I jumped away my back hit the bars of the cage. A few of the other mutants caged up starting growling and howling but I was focused on figure out how he moved so fast.

He peered at me worried, "I am sorry, are you okay?"

"What the hell?" I wasn't if it was directed at his speed or at his proximity, maybe it was both but all I know is guy was keeping me on my toes way to much.

"Would you like to me continue?" He asked, patient as ever and I wasn't so sure. I weighed out my options and decided that being unable to stretch my wings worse that anything else that this guy possibly do. Eyeing him as I slowly turned around to be facing away from him.

It was a few minutes while I felt slight tugs at my shoulder blades where my wings connected and I could tell he was being careful and I appreciated it. At one point there must've been a knot or something and it got caught in my feathers so I pulled away with a wince. He placed a hand on my shoulder gently and the lack of two more fingers oddly enough didn't bother me. With one finally pull I felt the pressure release from wings and I turned to face him and he was smiling.

"Good ja?" He asked.

"Yeah, it's better," I said cautiously and spread my wings out to stretch them. They felt tight from being in that position for so long. When I looked up he was back on the other side of the cage. I had enough sense in me to grunt out, "Thanks."

He looked pleased, "You are welcome."

I surprised myself by saying, "I'm Warren by the way."

"Warren?" He said testing out the pronunciation, for the most part he was good except he kinda said Varren.

"Yeah, Warren Worthington, the third one. Gotta carry the family name or some pretentious shit like that." I shrugged. I was never really a fan of my name, it was always too preppy for me. I mean I did go to a private school but nonetheless.

He nodded slowly, he probably didn't know relate what I was talking about, and said, "I'm Kurt Wagner."

I liked how his last name sounded or at least how he said it. It sounded rugged and it definitely wasn't as long as mine. Testing it on my tongue, "Kurt Wagner."

"You say it like American," he giggled. He actually fucking giggled. I didn't want to jinx but I was pretty sure I was blushing now, and I had no idea why. 

"Says the one who can't say German," I scoffed. 

He then suddenly perked up and looked to the left towards the other cages. He was crouched low and his tail flicked out behind him. I looked at him confused, "Kurt?" 

Kurt didn't respond, so I moved beside him and looked past the bars of the cage to see what has got him so riled up. It wasn't very bright in here but I imagined he had some kind of cat like eyesight that allowed him to see in the dimness. I started to hear something before I saw anything. It sounded like footsteps. I looked at Kurt's face and his eyes were wide in fear. It wasn't hard to figure out what was coming.

"They're coming to get us?" I asked, pointlessly. Obviously, they were coming to get us if Kurt's current demeanor was anything to go by. 

He nodded and I noticed that he had moved closer to me. I then started to see  two large men moving closer towards us, both of them had what looked like rifles in their hands. I looked at the cage door. Maybe I could fly out...

They stopped in front of our cage and one pointed the guns right at us while the other unlocked the door. I poised to fly out but the opening was to fly and I ended up with my chest touching the barrel of the gun.

"No escaping little birdie," he sneered and cocked the gun for emphasis. I held my hands up in surrender and hopped out the cage slowly. I looked back and saw Kurt doing the same, and I also noticed one of the guards had wrapped their hand around his tail tightly. Kurt had a painful expression on his face as he squirmed. They did that to keep him from teleporting. He stepped in beside me and the guns pressed to our backs had us walking. 

I looked over at Kurt and found myself doing something quite uncharacteristic. I felt for his hand and connected them. He looked at me questioningly but I just faced forward.

As we got closer to the steel door I could hear a rumble of voices. Kurt's hand tightened around mine, and oddly enough I didn't mind that he had only three fingers. We came to a steel door and it was opened for us. Immediately my eyes were drawn to the hundreds of people standing around the steel arena, cheering loudly as their eyes landed on us. I let go of Kurt's hand as the butt of gun was thrust in the middle of my back.

Kurt gasped, "Warren!" 

Two hands started grabbing at my wings, and then there was a scoff, "Already untied looks like he made friends." then those hands picked me off the ground an threw me inside the fenced in ring. I landed on my stomach and soon I heard another thump as Kurt landed beside me. We both got up at the same time and I flew up to the top to get kick at the steel. My foot exploded in pain as I was shocked and I fell to the ground. I could hear the crowd laughing.

Kurt ran over to me and pressed a hand to my shoulder, "Cage is electric, we must fight."

The cage opened on the other side and two mutants were thrown in in a heap. One of them was big and tall and the color of bubblegum. The other was skinny with red skin and four eyes that formed a square on his narrow face. The stood up and faced us with sneers on their ugly faces.

I started backing up until I bumped into something. Turning around, I had Kurt pressing against me nearly crouching. His posture told me he was afraid but the look on his face...it was one of determination and aggression. He then looked at me like he just noticed I was there and he looked confused before glancing back at our opponent who began crowding around us by duplicating themselves.

I looked at him, my wings poised and I saw his eyes flicker back and forth to our opponents. He was thinking, calculating. I nudged him, "So what's the plan partner?"

"You drop on big man, I take out copies. Try not to get sick," he says and that's all the warning I get before he grabs my hand and I hear that noise from earlier like a smoke bomb. Next thing I know, I'm going through a wormhole too fast for my brain to track and it's like my torso is spinning faster than my head can keep up with and I feel my body lurch. Just as it happens it's over and I'm back in the caged ring falling. I gather myself to ignore the queasiness and see I'm going to drop right onto the back of the big guy with the pink skin and my wings flap slowing me down so I can put my arms around his neck putting him in a sleeper hold.

He begins flailing around trying to get me off and I squeeze harder. I notice a purple cloud of smoke flashing in different parts of the ring taking out the many duplicates with it. As I tighten my arms around his neck, I realize it's Kurt. He's the smoke! He's teleporting **_and_** he's kicking ass. There's a flash of him every time he teleports and he's kicking and punching.

The big guy is stumbling back into the electric fence and I scramble to avoid getting electrocuted. I fly up just as he slams against the fence, his body shaking as he's getting zapped. He moves away with a scream. I fly in front of him kicking him in his face knocking his head back against the face. He's foaming at the mouth now since his head is getting most of the electricity.

He passes out in a heap, the pain getting to be too much for him. I look back to see Kurt standing over the skinny guy who could clone himself.

We were the only ones standing in the ring. We were the winners and everyone in the crowd was silent before cheering and chanting our names.

"Unsere neuen gewinner Nightcrawler und Engel!" The ring announcer yells over the speakers. I have no idea what he said besides our names but it must've been good because the crowd got louder.

Kurt appeared next to me and I punched him in his shoulder with a smirk to show him it was playful, "You teleport huh?"

"Ja, is very useful," he remarks.

I look back at the skinny guy who looks like he got tangled up in his self, "You didn't kill him did you?"

Kurt looks at me hurt and then in a funny display does a cross over his chest, "God knows, I could not kill a soul on purpose."

My mom used to do that all the time when she felt herself getting annoyed with my father, I felt myself get a little warm and there was weird feeling in my heart. Kurt was sweet, I absentmindedly thought.

The door to the cage opened and the guns pointed at us reminded us to move slowly and cautiously as we exited or else we'd be worse off than the guys we just beat. Kurt went first and I followed him, we were pushed into that cage once again and rolled out back to the room, passing the other locked up mutants. I listened to the sounds of the crowd for as long as I could. I liked the attention a lot. It was degrading but at the same time it felt good to illicit that reaction into a group of people. I had never had so much interest shown to me in my life that I couldn't help but be fascinated by it.

"You do that every night, go out there and fight like that?" I asked the blood still pumping through my veins. I glanced over at Kurt awaiting an answer and I blinked when I saw him hunched over grimacing. I stared, "Hey man are you okay?"

"Ja, I heal very...quickly," he said between labored breaths.

I shocked myself by saying, "Let me look at it."

He looked at me warily, and I wasn't surprised by it. What was I going to do, it's not like I had a first aid kit with me? However he appeared in front of me and I just now noticed the smell, wasn't terrible just kind of strong, it smelled like evil even though that's not a smell I would associate with this kid—he stared at me with big golden eyes lined with thick lashes and when he winced his white fangs peeked from under his lips.

I grabbed his hand pulled at way from the area he was holding it against and it was covered in blood. I unbuttoned his shirt and saw the gash. It wasn't too big but I noticed how skinny he was, I could play a tune on his ribs. He was staring at me and I realized I was just holding my hand against the wound. Pulling back like I touched a hot pan I coughed to hide my embarrassment. This was weird now that I was really noticing what we were doing. I barely knew this guy and here I was touched him like we've known each other for years.

"You're skinny as fuck," I said just to explain in a way, but what I would never say out loud was that his skin was unlike I've ever seen. So blue it was purple or black and I didn't miss those scars either, they were raised and in pattern that curved along his chest. He was amazing. I had never seen anyone like him.

He chuckled, "You are funny."

"Heh I guess," I said and my eyes landed on his wound again so I shrugged my jacket off and ripped the sleeve off from my t-shirt. First pressing hard into the wound, I ignored his cry of pain, and then when most of the blood was gone I tied it around his skinny waist like a makeshift tourniquet.

"That hurts," he whines, "I heal fast I do not need this."

"Shut up it only hurts for a while, I heal fast too most mutants do but you'll heal faster if you cover it up and staunch the wound." I tied it off in a knot and closed his shirt so I wouldn't have to look at his bare skin anymore.

"How you know that?" He asked buttoning his shirt back up and sitting crossed legged in front of me. Wincing again as he repositioned himself looking at me.

"Private school, we were required to learn first aid and reacting in emergency situations, stupid shit but it comes in handy," I shrugged. It was really the only thing I remembered from school before I dropped out. The ridicule from being a mutant and getting in fights got tiring after three years.

"What is school like?" He asked.

I raised an eyebrow at him, "You didn't go to school?"

He shook his head, "I learn from my mother, I never need school."

That must've been nice. I wish I could've spent all day with my mom and not have to go to that god forsaken school. Whenever I got the chance I would skip but soon my father found out and after being punished too many times I knew it was best to just get it over with and graduate. I sighed, "School is shit, it's really not all that."

"All what?" He tilted his head me like a little puppy. 

"Not all what it's made out to be," I shrugged, "Especially when you're walking around with two big ass wings."

Kurt nodded slowly like he was beginning to understand. He had to have understood with his appearance and all. He then smiled revealing a set of bright white teeth, "Your wings are beautiful."

Seeing that smile focused on me sparked something in me. I looked down at my hands as I felt my face heat up. The tips of my fingers were stained red. I looked back at him and I had an odd thought that Kurt was beautiful. I had to end this conversation before I got more uncomfortable than I already was.

"Thanks, it uh means a lot," I coughed, "So I'm kinda tired from fighting and all so I'm gonna try to get some sleep." 

Kurt smiled, "Schlaf' gut."

"Uh yeah, night." I turned layed down and was immediately faced with the unbearable feeling of the cold metal bottom of the cage. I tossed until I found a somewhat tolerable position in which I was kind on my side but also on my stomach. I then realized it also gave me a perfect view to watch Kurt sleep. However, I could barely see him since he blended with the shadows. The only reason I even knew he was still there was because of the golden orbs focused right on me.

I stared into his eyes and felt calm. For someone with so much pent-up aggression and anxiety that was a breakthrough for me. Kurt then closed his eyes and that golden glow disappeared. I found myself waiting to see it again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The way this will be formatted is that the POV will change depending on whose chapter it is. If it's Warren it will be in first person, and if it's Kurt's it will be in third person. Hopefully that isn't too confusing. Just look at the title of the chapter if you're unsure who the focus is on.


	2. An Angel's Wings

It has been two months since I was brought to Berlin and forced into a cage with a mysterious mutant. Along with that I was put into a tag team for an underground mutant fighting ring. The only reason I knew it was two months is because I kept count whenever I was let out. Every time we were allowed freedom from our cage I considered it one day because we were let out everyday to fight. We fought _every single day_ , and by we I mean Kurt and I. My partner, my cage mate, my unexpected best friend. The bond that forms between two people that have to share a cage and fight off mutated humans for someone else's enjoyment is surprisingly strong.

These two months, no matter how miserable they may prove to be, I still managed to do something I've never done in all my nineteen years of age. I opened up to someone. I managed to not be an asshole for a few minutes and as a result I made a genuine friend. Kurt was my actual friend. Not for the money or the publicity, since he understood none of that, but because of me. It was because of who I was and what I meant to him. That's why he was my friend and I was his. These past two months I had told him nearly everything about me, not easily of course but he just had this way of getting me to talk about anything. Plus there's not much you can do sitting in a cage all day but talk, however, it wasn't just a means to pass the time he just always seemed interested to know about me and my life.

I also managed to do something else, and that was I learned to play nice. In these two months I've slept close quarters with the most mutated human I've ever seen and it no longer sets my hackles on the rise. It took three weeks before I decided that if I was going to be living and fighting with him, I might as well learn to like him and I do. I actually truly like Kurt. Yeah, he's a little naive, a little too cheery for my tastes, too curious, and sometimes I have to explain things to him more thoroughly because his English wasn't the best—he's getting better from talking and listening to me but still.

Kurt was my lifeline now, even though it pains me to admit it. He's my best friend, and it hit me hard that I've never had that in my entire life. I was always alone, surrounded by the people and things my father hired to entertain me—to teach me how to be normal. I never actually formed a connection with someone. Kurt is what kept me going. He's what kept that fire in me going. Without him, my hope in escaping would have been long gone.

Who would have thought? Warren Worthington III would be making friends when all I wanted to do before was avoid everyone and drink until I forgot my last name and what was connected to it. I ran a hand through my hair—it had grown out and was now at the nape of my neck reaching my back. I looked over on the other side of the cage where Kurt was napping, he was curled up like a cat, and I found myself smiling. Of course I wouldn't let him catch me smiling like this but when he was asleep I let it slip onto my face for a brief moment. The smile then slowly fell as I came back to reality. The reality in which I was kept here against my will and I was fighting every day so that people could bet on me and watch me like it was some kind of cockfight.

Don't get me wrong, having Kurt was great and all, but this was shit. It was a shitty shitty shitty time. I hated every second of it. The hunger, the aches and pains from fighting every fucking day, the fear from whether or not this is going to be my last, and oh my god the fatigue. It was killing me to even keep my eyes open right now but I couldn't sleep. It just was too uncomfortable to me.

I adjusted trying to get blood flow to my butt when it went numb from the steel beneath me. As soon as his sensitive ears heard the rustling of fabric Kurt was up. His yellow eyes were wide and he stared at me in alarm before calming down after realizing it was just me. He sat upright and yawned, shaking out his hair before sidling over to me. He looked at me and I knew what he was about to do before he even did it. He sat next to me and laid his head on my shoulder.

"Get off of me you weirdo," I said with no malice at all. He laughed into my shoulder. This was something he did when he noticed I was too tired to push him off. I didn't really mind but I just had to keep up the whole brooding personality. After a few seconds I brought up one wing and wrapped it around the both of us pulling him in closer. The sound of him breathing paired with my tiredness soothed me enough to the point of where I started to doze off. I fell asleep to the reminder that we were both alive, for now.

* * *

I was startled awake when I heard the jingling of keys. It was the telltale sign that it was time for another fight, which meant that another day was soon to pass. Kurt was already up and waiting by the cage, his ears being much more sensitive than mine so he most likely heard footsteps from a mile away. He always tensed up when it was time for us to leave our cage, I do it too I think. It was just our way for preparing for what's to come. We never lose though. No matter how tired and weak we may be we never lose. We're just that good of a team. At first thought, with our powers it doesn't seem like we could do much to work together, but it was something between us that it made it so easy to fight beside him.

The men got closer and instead of it being three men as usual it was four, not anything to be alarmed about but what was disconcerting was that instead of two people with guns it was three of them, they had them pulled in front and aimed at the cage. Kurt noticed as well and shot me an uneasy look. Something was off.

They opened the cage, and one of them pointed the gun at me. I remember when I had tried to escape the first time and had gotten shot. I had figured since my wings were free I could, but the opening of the cage was too low for me to swoop down and fly out. So now I had to watch the gun the whole time while being escorted out.

Kurt was taken out first and one guy grabbed his tail to prevent him from teleporting, he had eventually gotten used to it but it knew still hurt him. He was pulled out by his tail with the gun still pointed at him, and before I could get led out too they slammed the cage door shut leaving me in.

Kurt looked back confused and fearful, he pulled away but was yanked back by his tail, in pain, he tried teleport out of instinct but only took the man with him. I bang my fist against the bars, I was confused to why they only let him out and yelled, "What are you doing?"

"Warren?" Kurt looked at me in confusion but I was just as confused as he was, " _Was ist los_?"

"Dream match. The Devil and his angel. More money," the man said, the one who holding Kurt's tail. Kurt tried to twist his tail so he could use the spade end as a dagger but it was only curled tighter in the man's fist.

"Dream match?" I asked, "What the fuck are you talking about? Let him go!"

"Prepare for match, will be big one," the man said with a grin and with that they walked off dragging Kurt by his tail. He looked at me, pleading with his big yellow eyes like I was supposed to save him, like I had all the answers and knew what to do. I didn't. I didn't know what to do. He reached out for me, yelling my name, but I just looked at him. Lost.

"Warren!" Kurt yelled and I shut my eyes and blocked out his voice, there was nothing I could do. Not right now. Nothing I could do but prepare for match. The dream match. The Devil and his Angel... What were they talking about? In the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of white. My wings, I was the Angel, the Angel of Death. It was the name they had given me as a moniker. Kurt was Nightcrawler, the name he had gotten from his days in the circus but he was also _Der Teufel selbst_ which Kurt translated for me as the Devil himself. My eyes widened as I realized...

They were going to make us fight. We were their big money makers. Whether it was because we weren't making enough money or because they were sick bastards who enjoyed seeing us tear each other apart, I don't know, but this was going to happen. This changed everything. It was one thing fighting random mutants to survive but it's another thing to fight my friend, my only friend. The only friend I've ever had.

What was I going to do? Just throw our friendship out the window, everything we bonded over. I didn't want to die, that has never changed this whole time, but what has changed was what mattered to me. Only two things really truly mattered to me—my life and his life. Those two things were conflicting with each other now and it meant I had to choose. I have to choose between living and friendship. The logical choice was there in front of me but it didn't stop that doubt.

I felt like I had the first day they had kidnapped me and brought me here. I felt like I had no more hope because Kurt...he was my hope. I felt weak, vulnerable, and so fucking useless. I was useless. He was yelling my name and I could do nothing. There was nothing I could possibly do, except prepare for my match.

* * *

 

It was hours later when I was finally let out, I couldn't go back to sleep not when my mind was on Kurt and what was soon to happen. Being in that cage felt wrong without him there next to me, not a night went by when we weren't talking each other. I don't know when I had gotten so comfortable talking to someone but it was the only thing we had to do. I felt wrong being in that cage without him. I felt guilty.

I couldn't dwell on my guilt any longer though because they were coming to get me, three men walked past all the other cages and stood in front of mine. With their guns pointed at me, the cage was opened. They probably expected me to be more volatile since they took Kurt, but I got out calmly, watching the rifles the whole time. One had a hand on where my wing connected with my shoulder blade, and the rest had their guns pressed to my back. We walked calmly to the arena, and as we neared closer I heard the sounds of the crowd. Betting, cheering, laughing at the mutants fighting in the electric caged ring. I couldn't understand any of them but I could imagine the degrading things they were saying.

We got right to the doors, and they yanked me still until they heard the queue that someone has died and they were ready for the next fighter. It was an endless cycle, Kurt and I would fight until we had destroyed everyone that stepped foot in the ring. No one lived or else we would die. When we had killed everyone, they would shut down the arena, cage us up again, and go back out to look for more mutants. It made sense now. Tag teams were very entertaining but it must've been getting harder to find mutants to fight so they had to resort to one-on-one.

I heard a blood curdling scream and I had to tense up so I wouldn't flinch. The men looked at each other and nodded. Someone has died which meant it was time for me to step into the ring. Hopefully, Kurt wasn't my first opponent. I don't know if I could kill him and then go on fighting like nothing had happened.

When they opened the doors they saw me and began cheering, some of them chanted for Nightcrawler, but it was generally all good reactions from the crowd as soon as they saw me. I put on a grin like I always did because that was me, I liked the attention. From being an only child with a distant father I had grown craving someone's eyes on me so wherever it came from I basked in it. I felt my smile drop a little though when my thoughts came back to me having to fight and who I was going to have to fight.

"Der Winged Warrior, der Engel des Todes, unser Champion und Preisträger, Engel!" The ring announcer introduced me, and then like that they pushed me into the ring with the guns at my back and I stumbled in. The doors closed behind me and I didn't dare touch them. I knew that touching the fence meant electrocution and electrocution meant pain.

I spread my wings out and faced my opponent. Their hands sparked with a flame and their skin was yellow with jaundice. They ran at me shooting fire balls and I went to make quick work. With a flap of my wings, a powerful gust of air blew their flames out and propelled me forward. Landing on top of them, I grasped their head in both hands and turned it quickly to the side, successfully snapping their neck.

Everyone cheered, and I stepped back so that the dead mutant could be taken out. I looked down at my hands, I've never gotten rid of someone so fast, the anger from having Kurt taken from me was making me more aggressive. The next person came in, they got no introduction, just some mutant they scraped up off the ground. He didn't have any powers besides being orange and furry as all hell, he even cowered away. He didn't get it. You don't get to back out.

I walked up to him and he whimpered. There was no room to be weak, not if you wanted to live. His sign of weakness told me that, that he didn't want to live. The talon at the end of my wing came across his throat and I jumped back so the blood wouldn't spray on me.

It went on like this for seven more matches. Using my wings, speed, and strength to permanently retire my opponents quickly. I didn't have any desire to prolong the match. My muscles however did, they were screaming at me to stop, but I pushed through it. At least I was so used to my wings that using them for long periods of time didn't affect me. The guards took out the ninth opponent and brought in the next.

I was too busy catching my breath to listen to their introduction but needless to say when the next mutant came in I was a little surprised. He was _huge_. With a bald head and a big belly, he towered over me. Whenever he moved his body jiggled like a waterbed. I could tell he wasn't very fast though.

"You're not ready for The Blob!" He roared and I cringed at his name. He was appropriately named at least, but he must not know who he was stepping up to. I just fought nine pathetic mutants and I was going to add a tenth to that list.

Flying up, I did a backflip for flair and aimed both of my feet at his chest. I sunk into his belly and I scrambled to get back. He laughed at me and rubbed his gut. I grimaced and flew up then swooped down as soon as I was within reach he grabbed my arm flinging me towards the fence but I circle around him using the momentum and kicked him in the back his head. He rubbed his head and turned around to face me. Since he was slow, I took advantage of that and kicked the back of his knees. He fell to a kneeling position and I flew over and in front of him.

I stood and stared at him. He no longer had that smug look. He just looked angry at me and he swung at me with one meaty fist. My leg came down on his arm like an axe kick and before setting it down I kicked him hard in his face, his head snapping back. Raising my wings, I slashed his face until blood spilled onto the ground. Not wasting anytime, I delivered the final blow, my wings crossing over each other, the talons slicing across his throat in an x pattern. He fell back, lifeless and useless.

There must be something very entertaining about the smaller one defeating the bigger and stronger opponent because as The Blob was dragged out, they cheered even louder for me. I felt myself relishing in the attention. They were exchanging money, and there were even fights breaking out in the crowd over if I would win next.

"Zehn kämpfe, zehn siege. Der Winged Warrior. Der Raubvogel Der Engel des Todes. Engel! Ja! Eine Runde Applaus für den fetten jungen!" The ring announcer said into his microphone, whatever it was, it seemed to get the crowd more enthusiastic then they already were.

I flexed my wings. That was my tenth fight, so when were they going to bring out Kurt? What was I going to do when they did bring him out? Was I going to mercilessly kill him like I had the others or was I going to stand down? I already knew Kurt wasn't going to be able to fight me, it wasn't in his nature. The only reason he even did fight every night was because I reminded him that they wouldn't hesitate to kill if we didn't cooperate but he wasn't fighting alongside me this time, he was fighting against me. I had to figure something out.

Looking around me, I saw no exits or ways to escape. The whole fenced in ring was electric so if you touched it you would be zapped in instant, and surrounding the area were men readied with guns to shoot us down. What was I going to do?

"Unser nächster gegner kommt direkt vom Circus München." I wasn't paying attention but I knew the ring announcer was introducing someone else.

"Kämpf! Kämpf! Kämpf!" The crowd began chanting. I looked towards the doors and the four of them brought out a box that was covered in wires and chains that sparked with electricity. I gulped, the only thing they would hold in there is someone that could easily get out. The box shook threatening to burst open. He was in there, Kurt was in there.

"Damen und Herren. Der einzige, der einen Engel besiegen könnte, ist der teufel selbst!" The opened the latches on the box, and tipped it over. Kurt felt onto the wooden floors and the men didn't waste anytime leaving the ring and closing it shit. "Präsentiert die erstaunliche, die fantastische, Nightcrawler!"

He was shaking in fear, and I stared at him. What was I to do? I had been anticipating this moment but now that he was locked in here with me I was frozen. He slowly got onto his feet. The crowd was roaring. The best fighters, the dream match. The Angel and the Devil. I moved to walk over to him but his yellow eyes were unfocused and darting every which way. He disappeared in a blue smoke, and I watched him try to teleport out but there was no way out.

"Kurt!" I yelled out to him but he kept trying. It didn't last long and he fell with a twitch.

"Vorsicht! Hochspannung! Tschuldigung mutanten!" The ring announcer laughed. They though this was funny, it was amusing to them. I found myself getting angry.

They were watching me and they caught my eyes and cocked their guns. My eyes were burning and I was forced to make my choice. I stalked towards him, my wing poised but he teleported away.

This was good though, as long as he kept out of my reach he would be fine. I did this a few times, not actually trying to hurt him and he kept dodging. I was about to call it a win but then I saw them aim their guns at Kurt, they weren't satisfied with this dance we were doing. I flew towards him so he would be forced to teleport away.

He was on the beam looking at me in shock, he wasn't expecting me to fight him since he clearly wasn't fighting me, "Warren..." he mouthed and I shook my head.

"Fight or they'll kill us both!" I yelled out to him and he looked like he was going to cry. Like I was betraying him and I knew in a way that I was. His eyes flickered to the men with guns and back to me. I mouthed to him that I was sorry. He nodded and with a baring of his teeth he launched at me in a cloud of smoke. I wasn't prepared for the tail that grabbed me around my throat. This was something I hadn't thought of. That Kurt wouldn't hesitate to fight back.

When we had first fought as a team, his ruthlessness had surprised me. He always felt bad after we won but during the fight the adrenaline took over him and he was a well-oiled machine. No hesitation, no doubt, just pure aggression. It pained him to hurt anyone but in his head he was doing what he had to do. That's what I had drilled into his head, that he had to do what he had to do.

It was like going through a wormhole, my eyes circled in my head as he dragged me across the ring. His tail not tight around my throat but not loose either. He was trying to go easy on me. He whipped out his tail and threw me into the walls of the cage, my body jolted but I didn't feel any pain and I was dropped on the ground. I tried to get up and fly closer to him but a sharp pain hit me in my shoulder and I stumbled. Raising my wing I gasped at the charred feathers. My wing...

Kurt was looking at me in fear. The crowd was silent in shock. They hadn't expected it and neither had I. Anger coursed through my body and it intensified when they began chanting.

"Nightcrawler! Nightcrawler! Nightcrawler!"

Kurt held his hands out, "Warren, I am sorry, so sorry, I am so sorry, es tut uns leid!"

How could he? How could he? I stalked towards him but before I had the thought to do anything yellow sparks began flying around the cage. The crowd dissipated, covering their heads so they wouldn't get burned. With one final spark the cage went dead, and the anger left me. We could get out, we were free.

I looked at Kurt and gestured for him to follow me. Flying to the top of the ring was hard with my frayed wing but I managed to stay in the air long enough to get the fence off. Kurt not too far behind me, perching on the beam nearby, he was saying something to me but I was too focused on getting past the men with guns. I flew through the opening and the only way I knew Kurt had followed was because the smell of sulfur hit me as soon as I flew down. We were standing among the crowd of panicked people

"Kurt we gotta get out of here," I said to him and I didn't hear him say anything. Looking back I started panicking when I realized he wasn't there, "Kurt! Kurt! Where are you?"

I started hyperventilating, where was he? I flew up high even though my burnt wing threatened to bring me down. I couldn't find him, I couldn't see him. I cried out when I felt a sharp pain in my side. They were still shooting at me, I had to get out of here.

Swooping down and out of the doors. I flew into the night until my wing finally gave out on me and I crashed to the ground in a heap. Now that the adrenaline ran out my side, my wing, and my whole body was a center of pain. I slammed my fist in the ground.

I had lost Kurt. I lost my wing. I lost everything. I finally managed to get out and I had lost everything. I was alone again. In the distance I heard sirens. As much I would like to wallow in self-pity, there was still a part of me present that wouldn't allow me to succumb to the hopelessness. I had one thing left and that was my life. I had to protect that with everything I had.

I picked myself up off the ground, I tried flapping my wings but it seemed my left one just refused to cooperate at this point. Not to mention the spot where I got shot was throbbing. So I walked. I walked with no place to go and no place in mind. I was in Berlin, Kurt told me that, but what did I know about Berlin? Where would I stay? I moved through the alleyways and behind cars, keeping my wings tucked in behind me so no one would see them. They may not want me to fight but people did other things to mutants, terrible things that were a much worse fate than fighting. We weren't accepted anywhere. I stopped and leaned on a wall. This was pointless, I had nowhere to go and I wouldn't be accepted anywhere because of what I was.

The sound of glass shattering had me alert in seconds, breaking me from my thoughts, I pressed myself against the wall and began sliding towards the sound. Two guys were moving crates from a truck and they had drop something. One of them cursed and my eyes followed to what he was looking at. What I saw peaked my interest. It was a glass bottle, but not just any glass bottle. It was alcohol. They were moving alcohol.

"Scheiße!" One guy yelled and I pulled back hoping he didn't see me. After a few seconds, I peeked at them again. They were kicking the glass off to the side and laughing to each other. What a pair of idiots. They proceeded to take the boxes inside, and as soon as the door closed behind them I stalked over to the truck.

I smirked. I hit the jackpot, I grabbed the nearest crate. It wasn't too heavy and slipped on by before they could come back and catch me. This would keep me preoccupied for the time being. I still had to for a place to stay. I stopped when I had gotten far enough, and took out one of the bottles. Lifting my shirt I looked at the bullet wound, I wouldn't be able to take the bullet out here. I didn't even know how to do that safely. I opened the top, took a swig and poured it on the wound. Hissing, I sucked in a deep breath and waited for the burning sensation to pass. Once it was gone I took another swig and put the bottle back into the crate. I started walking, but I had no idea where I was going. The only thing I really know about Berlin was that abandoned warehouse where I attended that mutants only party. It wasn't really my scene, parties were but the mutant part. I wasn't used to being around so many of them. Now that I'm thinking about I couldn't have been the only one captured that night. I wonder if I could find my way back to that warehouse.

I remembered where it was near and so I started at that. I wanted to drink while I was walking but I needed to be able to think clearly. The downside was that I wasn't drunk and I was thinking. So far whenever I was thinking it led back to Kurt. He couldn't have been hurt, I was in the way of most of the gunfire and he could have easily teleported away from the bullets since he wasn't locked in a cage. There's a huge possibility that he had gotten out safely, and was looking for me now. I could go and find him. We would then...well I don't what we would do then. We had nowhere to go except the circus that Kurt was apart of. I had no home, not a real one at least, it's why I came to Europe—I wanted to get away from the responsibilities of running my father's company. I had left Amsterdam and came to Berlin, for no reason except that I had money to fucking burn. What did leaving home get me? Abducted, shot at, and lost but it also got me Kurt. Kurt who had given me his bread that first night, who had found beauty in my wings, who had trusted me as his friend, who listened to me for the first time in my miserable life. Kurt, who had also destroyed my wing, but he hadn't meant to though, right, he wouldn't have done it if I hadn't told him to fight. Could I forgive him for taking away something that I never really wanted in the first place? A part of me said no but a part of said yes. That was something I would figure out when I crossed that road. Right now, I don't know even know what we would do if we found each other again, but it had to be better than being without him and living the lonely life I once had.

I stopped to lean against a building, my wound was killing me and I need to take a deep breath. I grabbed the bottle and took another sip. The burn of the liquor distracted me for a second and I almost forgot the pain but it was back once again. I picked up the crate again, putting the bottle back, and I looked at the building I was leaning on. I laughed in shock, I had unknowingly found the warehouse but the front of the door was padlocked. After that party it must've gotten locked up. I looked around and I spotted a window up high, I didn't want have to use my wings anymore that I had to but this wouldn't take long. I braced myself and flew to the top with the crate of alcohol in my arms. I entered through the window and perched on of the beams. Setting the crate beside me, I felt myself finally relax after escaping the mutant fighting ring.

Taking off my jacket and shirt, I dropped the jacket and ripped up my shirt using my teeth. I looked down at wound, it was a little swollen and was still bleeding so I wrapped a piece of shirt around my side pulling tight as a tourniquet. Hopefully I didn't bleed out anymore and die. I grabbed the bottle and began drinking it so I could forget the pain and the loss and the blue boy with golden eyes. Maybe this is why I didn't have friends because I get too attached and don't know what to do when I lose them.  
  
With my shirt off and my wing destroyed, I laid back and I drunk myself into a stupor trying to forget everything and anything. The more I drank the easier it got. The liquor eventually lulled me to sleep like warm milk for the depressed and lonely. My eyes slipped shut, I wasn't sleepy but tired. So tired. I drifted into a sleepless slumber.


	3. The Devil's Heart

"Kurt, follow me we gotta get out of here!" Warren yelled out.

Kurt struggled because there were so many people pushing them back and forth. People were scrambling, scattering, and screaming as they tried to find their way outside. Warren attempted to be focused on getting out but also on his mutant friend behind him. Kurt, had he been any other mutant wouldn't have heard his friend but his sensitive ears picked it up easy enough. He tried to his best to stay close to Warren but was quickly pulled back by a hand on his shoulder. Whipping around, his tail poised, Kurt found himself facing a very pretty blonde woman. She looked at him up and down, and like she had forgotten herself and what was going on around them she shook her head and grabbed him.

"Come with me," she said, and started leading him to what he assumed was the exit. She kicked whoever was on their way and he was mesmerized. He could see the outside, he felt himself get a little excited, he hadn't seen the outside in nearly two months and like he had forgotten himself too he realized the resemblance between what the woman and Warren had said.

"Warren–" Kurt started but a man jumped on the back of him and the woman almost toppling them over and his instincts kicked in taking him, the woman, and the man outside in a puff of purple smoke. The woman took her elbow back straight to cheek of the man hanging onto Kurt's neck, knocking him out cold, and stuttering the blue mutant stared down at the unconscious man.

The woman seemed unfazed by what she had just done and bent down to rip the coat off of the unconscious man, and threw it over Kurt's head and shoulders.

"Wo sind sie?" a group of men asked, and Kurt recognized them as the men with guns. They were going to come over here and capture him once again, and he cowered down a bit.

Like a fluttering of fireflies, her skin made a rippling sound and she was no longer a pretty blond woman but a middle aged man with his finger pointing up the road, "Si gingen so!"

The group of armed men nodded and took off in the direction. Kurt's eyes were wider than they had ever been as he stared in wonder as she shifted back. He had heard about in the news and in the stories, his mother had told him stories about the blue woman that had fought for people like him. People that didn't look like everyone else. She was the hero that could look like anyone she wanted but choose to fight in her own blue scaled skin. She was Mystique, the hero of mutants.

"You can..." Kurt said, too amazed to finish his sentence. He blinked in wonder as he took in all of her as if he expected her to shift once again.

The woman looked at him, and throughout this whole time he thinks this is first time he's seen that determination and confidence slip from her face and it was because of him? No—it was still but something overtook her mind. It was almost like she was worried and...guilty. She waited for what he had to say and it was like he had her full attention.

"You can transform," he said and she nodded so he asked with excitement filling his voice, "So you are the hero, ja?"

At that she looked tired and sad, it appeared that not only could she change forms at a moment's notice but also her emotions, she looked into his eyes and said, "I'm no hero. I'm nobody."

Kurt didn't believe so. She looked like him—when she wanted to—so she couldn't be a nobody. A nobody didn't look the way they did. However, before he could correct her she grasped his arm and said, "We'll talk later but let's get out of here."

He had no idea where to go but she must've knew that since she wasn't fazed when he just teleported them as far as he could see until they stopped at the end of the alleyway and it led into another road. She nodded satisfied, apparently he had done the right thing. She peeked around the corner and deemed it safe enough to no longer crouch and hide.

"Excuse me, Fräulein Mystique–"

"Don't call me that, it's just..." she hesitated like she wanted to say something but she hadn't stopped walking nor had she looked back at him, "It's just Raven now."

Kurt wasn't sure how to act around her, she was so icy and nearly everything he said seemed to her set her off. Twisting his hands together nervously, he followed behind her closely, "Gut...my friend, did you see him get out?"

She stopped then, and looked at him, no expression on her face but in her eyes he saw curiosity peek through, "Your friend?"

Kurt had his hands out to represent the length of Warren's wings and how they spread out behind him, "Ja! He has wings and–"

Raven looked at him like he was delusional, "He was attacking you."

"Ja, doch–"

"I saved your ass from him."

"Nein, you do not under-"

"He was going to kill you, Kurt."

"He was not..." Kurt's voice trailed off when he realized what she had called him, "You know my name?"

"Crawler, I said," she took a deep breath and frowned, "I said Crawler."

Kurt knew his ears hadn't deceived him but he was in no place to argue with a hero. Not when she really had saved his life, but not from Warren like she thinks, "He is my good friend, he was not going to hurt me."

"But you hurt him," Raven pointed out.

Looking down at his feet, he saw in his head those white wings and then he saw the way he had tarnished them. He hadn't meant to. He really hadn't meant to hurt him. He was just so overwhelmed, he felt trapped and he just wanted to grab Warren to show the armed men that he wasn't resisting but he had accidentally dragged his friend down the electrical fence. He didn't believe in mindless violence especially not towards someone he cared about and now Warren was somewhere thinking Kurt had done it on purpose. How could he say he wasn't the devil when he had done such a monstrous thing?

Raven placed her hand on Kurt's shoulder and he looked at her, a dejected look in his bright eyes, "If he's your friend like you said then he knows you didn't mean it."

"I really did not mean to," Kurt reaffirmed and shuffled his feet.

"I know," she smiled and just as quickly as it was pulled on her face it was gone, "But I'm sorry I didn't see him get out."

"I have to go back," Kurt said determined.

"You can't, if you go back you'll be captured again or worse, and I can't...I can't save you then," she said the last part like it physically hurt her to say that.

"But he is my friend, my good friend," he told her like he was trying to convince her.

"Just let me get you out of here and when you're safe you can come back to look for him," she offered like it was his last resort but Kurt knew that if he wanted to he could leave right now and go find Warren without her, but he couldn't do it alone. He had no idea where he could be, if he had even gotten out, and the fear of being captured again ran strong in his head. This really was his last resort.

"Gut."

Raven nodded, taking her hand off Kurt's shoulder, and they continued walking. She must've been here before to know her way so well but her accent was American with a slight hint on English. She was a mystery to the world of mutants and humans but they still looked up to her nonetheless. She had smiled at him. The hero had smiled at him, and it wasn't one stemming from cockiness or to mock him. She acted icy but he knew she had a good heart inside of her. You had to have a good heart to save the world.

Breaking him from his thoughts was a rumble underneath his feet. Raven looked back at him, feeling it too. It was a tiny tremor, nothing too concerning, and so they continued. They had much bigger things to be worried about. Mystique looked back at the blue mutant and shook her head at how innocent he looked, it was deceiving since she knew how much he had been throw. She knew how much he had been through and she could have prevented it. Now it's her job to make it right ahe get him to safety.

Kurt's golden eyes were trained on Mystique as she looked ahead of her once again. He had never thought he would meet his hero. When he was younger he and his siblings had collected the flyers pasted along the alleyways that displayed the heros that assisted with the war—the heros that had paved the way for mutants like him, although there are many people who still weren't accepting of his kind. He had always found himself drawn to the woman that was blue like him with the same yellow eyes and shocking orange hair. Knowing that there was someone out there that looked like him is what motivated him to love himself and the skin he was born in. When he was sold to that circus and kept in a cage her image gave him hope. When he was traded to the mutant fighting ring her image gave him strength. However, one person gave him the drive and the will to live—Warren.

He had never met anyone like Warren. He had been mesmerized by the lily white wings and how their softness contrasted with the harshness of Warren's face. When Kurt had first seen him, he had believed he died and met his guardian angel, but it was just another mutant. Kurt was hurt upon being called a freak, when he started learning English he learned quickly that the word freak meant wrong and out of place, he had heard it a lot towards him. However, after getting to know Warren he had found that he wasn't all that callous. Just like Kurt he felt fear and weakness too, he just choose to hide it behind insult and a bad attitude. When they had their first fight together and Warren held Kurt's hand to soothe him, despite how weird they were, he had know then that he had to get to know Warren.

Now...Warren was god knows where while Kurt was being taken care of by the hero herself. Kurt had failed once again, and he had destroyed the one good thing he had left. He really was the devil. He took away Warren's wings and he took away his life.

"Keep your eyes open Crawler," Raven said to him. He was so deep in his thoughts that he had bumped right into her.

"Entschuldigung," he said, "Where are we going?"

"You're going somewhere safe."

"Wait, why can't I go with you?" Kurt asked. She was just going to send him off and leave him on his own...

Raven sighed and looked around the corner, before glancing back at him, "I work alone, got it?"

She took them into an alleyway and down a flight of steps. As they got closer to the bottom, Kurt's ears twitched as he heard the sound of laughter and voices. It wasn't as unpleasant and overwhelming as the noise from the crowds but it still had him tensing up. The got to the bottom and walked into a dim room.

There were people stationed around areas and he saw a bright flash from the corner of his eye. They were taking pictures.

"Mystique!" A voice called out and like that everything stopped moving. Raven rolled her eyes and plastered on a fake smile.

"Caliban, it's always lovely to see you," she said sarcastically.

Caliban was a skinny bald man with dark eyes and sunken cheeks, his voice was like melting ice, "Caliban sensed you coming."

He came from behind his desk and greeted Raven with two kisses on each cheek. She pushed him away when he finished and from the corner of her eye she saw a woman perk up. They made eye contact and Caliban noticed this, "Caliban sees you noticed Psylocke, you two have met before, isn't she a doll?"

"Yeah...a doll," Raven said unimpressed. "He needs transportation," She pulled Kurt in front of her who waved tentatively. Caliban's eyes widened when he saw the odd looking mutant and he grinned.

"Caliban can do that," Caliban said. He pointed to one of the designated areas, "Why don't you sit over there and remember to smile real big doll?"

Kurt did as told. Raven was left to converse with Caliban which wasn't at the top of her list. Kurt sat down in front of the camera and the man taking pictures grunted before telling Kurt to cheese. The blue mutant grinned wide, revealing a row of sharp pearly whites. When he was finished the cameraman gestured Kurt over to look at his photo.

It was a good picture by all means but Kurt felt a frown slip onto his face anyway. No matter how positive he insisted on being, he still couldn't fathom the way he looked. However being the polite young man he was Kurt smiled at the cameraman and took the photos, "Ich danke dir sehr."

The man offered a smile of his own in returned.

Raven walked over to him and that blank expression that she struggled to keep on her face was gone. Now she wore a mask of determination. She grabbed Kurt by his shoulder, "How fast are you?"

"How fast?" Kurt blinked at her.

Raven suppressed a groan and said, "How far can you cover?"

Kurt had never been asked that before and had to think of the right answer, "Euh...what I can see or if I been there before."

"Come with me Crawler." Raven said, and left the underground facility.

"It is Nightcrawler or Kurt Wagner.” He corrects her as he follows her out.

The face of Xavier's School for The Gifted was magnificent. Kurt had never seen anything quite like it. It was like it was frozen in time, a snapshot of memories, and it was charming in its own right. The only other building he had seen that was as large as the mansion was the circus tent he called home, but they weren't exactly comparable.

Next to him, Raven was thinking along the same lines. Seeing the building again was nostalgic. She associated only good memories with the mansion. Meeting her brother there as a young child and living together, and then training with her team. She missed it so much, but she couldn't afford to get caught up in her emotions. Not when the situation was so dire.

She grabbed Kurt's shoulder, "Let's go in."

He followed her inside and when they walked in Kurt thought it was even more wonderful on the inside. He stared around in amazement, trying to take in everything at one, he was much too eager though. The wooden interior was so sleek and homey, it felt comforting to just be standing here. He couldn't see anyone but his sensitive ears heard many views throughout the halls.

A man with glasses and combed hair walked up to them as Kurt was looking around. He was wearing a white labcoat and he was wringing it in his hands as he stood in front of them. "Raven. Wow. Uh. I... You're...

Raven raised an eyebrow, looking unimpressed as ever, "Not blue? It's like you and I have that in common now.”

Hank laughs, “No. No, I meant... You're... You're back. I never thought I would see you here again.”

“Yeah, me neither.” She says without emotion.

Stepping behind her with a hand outstretched, “I'm blue. I'm Kurt.”

“Oh, right.” Hank peeks his eyes away from Raven to stare at the lithe blue boy in front of him. He shakes his hand, tries not to be alarmed by the three fingers, and takes in resemblance between Kurt and Raven.

“Kurt Wagner.”

Hank smiles, “Welcome.


End file.
